1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector for use in connecting an integrated circuit element having conductive terminal pads on one surface with a printed circuit board also having conductive terminal pads. More specifically, this invention relates to an electrical connector having an insulating housing for mounting the integrated circuit element on a printed circuit board. The integrated circuit element with which this connector is to be used comprises an integrated circuit chip mounted on a substrate carrier. This particular substrate carrier is rectangular and has a number of terminal pads located around its edges. This invention utilizes resilient spring contacts to interconnect the terminal pads on the substrate carrier and on the printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of connector assemblies for connecting leadless integrated circuit elements to a printed circuit board are known in the prior art. One example can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,173. That patent shows a connector assembly which utilizes spring contacts to connect opposed terminal pads on adjacent sides of a circuit element and a printed circuit board. The geometry of various integrated circuit elements is not standarized and each individual connector assembly must be adapted to the particular geometry of the circuit element. Such geometrical differences can result in changes in the connector assembly which are not merely matters of design. These changes are conceptual changes offering different methods of handling the relatively small integrated circuit elements and printed circuit boards.
The instant invention comprises an insulating housing member and contact terminal means positioned in the insulated housing. The instant invention employs a single insulating housing which can be employed with several alternative terminal means.
The instant housing is specifically intended for use with contact terminal mounted on a carrier strip so that they can be easily handled in multiples. One embodiment of this invention comprises individual contact terminals mounted on a polymeric film such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,423 filed Oct. 2, 1974.